Case Study
Engagement, Assessment, Intervention, Termination and Evaluation
Cedric Jones
Cedric Jones, 12, an African American male, his mother, Dorothy, and sister, Silvia.
Cedric penetrated the vagina of his 3 year old sister Silvia with his finger. Mrs. Jones,
Cedric’s mother, reported the suspected abuse. She was sexually abused as a child and
Cedric may have been abused, but not by her. It is possible that an earlier live-in male
abused him.
Briar Grove Treatment
Cedric Jones, 12, an African American boy was placed at Briar Grove Treatment Center
and has been there for 8 months. Services are paid for by Ramepin County Child
Welfare Services. The program has a behavioral point system with levels of rewards and
penalties. The Center has a psychological report indicating that Cedric has low impulse
control, though not of a sexual nature. The staff is aware and is recommending that he be
evaluated for an oppositional defiant disorder.
Mrs. Jones and Cedric receive family counseling with Silvia receiving individual play
therapy from Sun Dial Child and Family Services. Funding for these services comes from
Ramepin County. Approximately 95% of the staff at Briar Grove Treatment Center are
Caucasian while 40% of children in placement are children of color.
Ramepin County will be making a decision about whether to continue his placement
at Briar Grove Treatment Center. They are under pressure to reduce their out-ofhome
care budget and to attempt to reduce the disproportionality for children of
color in out-of-home placement. However, recidivism is high after residential
treatment and Cedric may be at high risk of abusing Silvia again if he leaves Briar
Grove too early.
While at Briar Grove Treatment Center, the staff often feels tested by him and
frustrated. He was recently discovered to have taken a video game from another
child and denied that he took it. It is a goal of the program that children learn to take
responsibility for their behavior.
Cedric has claimed that the staff was prejudiced against him. He is erratic in earning
good behavior points and rewards.
Dorothy Jones
Ms. Jones is 36 years old, single mother of 5 children.
Cedric has been in treatment for 8 months and there is no clear plan to have him
return home. You and Cedric have been meeting with a social worker from Sundial
Child and Family Services for over 6 months. Cedric appears remorseful for hurting
Sylvia and insists he would never do it again; yet, the agency where Cedric is placed,
Briar Grove, does not think he is ready to return. Sylvia seems to want Cedric home
but is also fearful that he will hurt her again. Cedric complains about the treatment
he receives at Briar Grove. All his treatment providers are Caucasian with the
exception of an African American psychologist. Cedric claims that he is treated
differently than the “white kids” and thinks the staff is prejudiced. You also meet
individually with the Sun Dial social worker to talk about how things are going in
your life. While he is white, he seems to understand and is supportive. You have
talked about your own abuse as a child and how difficult it is to parent 5 children
without the support of another adult. Your boyfriend Allen comes and goes and is
not really a reliable source of support. Your church family and extended family
provide the most support and without them it would be impossible to go on.
Silvia Jones, 3, African American Child
Sylvia is 3 years old. All she knows is that what happened to her was very scary and she
don’t want it to happen again. She has been confused by all the funny feelings she has,
but the social worker she sees likes to play with her and helps her with those feelings.
Sylvia loves Cedric and wants him to come home, but she is also afraid he would hurt her
again. Sylvia’s mom says that Cedric is sorry for what he did and says he would never do
it again. Sylvia wants to believe him, but is unsure. She feels some pressure from mom to
tell the social worker and the people where Cedric is that it’s ok for Cedric to come
home.
RAMEPIN COUNTY CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
Ramepin Child Welfare Services is legally mandated to investigate and provide
services for child abuse and neglect.
Under the Adoptions and Safe Families Act (ASFA) the agency gives precedence to
securing safety of children. Agency policy is to maintain intact family units whenever
possible given safety of children and to make out-of-home placements in a timelimited,
brief, goal-oriented fashion that returns family units to safe healthy living as
quickly as possible. Agency policy and federal law places a high priority of child
safety. Agency policy also severely restricts out-of-home placements of all kinds. For
example, wherever possible the agency wishes for no new child to enter foster or
residential care without another child leaving such care. Essentially, the policy is
that the population of children in such care must stabilize or reduce, not grow. In
this context, the options available include residential placement, in-home extensive
services, foster or group home placement, less intensive case management services,
linkage to counseling agencies, and closing cases. The agency is also aware that the
country has been scrutinized for having a disproportionate number of African
American children in out-of-home placement. While this phenomenon exists
throughout the country, there has been increased pressure from the community to
reduce the disproportion.

You must provide your references. Only Intro, Engagement, Assessment, Intervention, Evaluation, Termination, and Conclusion (also, references are required). No Title page is requested.
The focus is on assessing, intervening, terminating, and evaluating this client at all system levels (make sure to include theory along with a diagnosis as you discuss the case). Apply all the information you have learned thus far from your reading assignments and class discussions.

Case Study Discussion Questions

1. Provide a summary of your understanding of the case study and problem.
2. What social work roles do parties play in this case study? How are these social work roles in harmony? How are they in conflict?
3. The case study simulation occurs in a context of conflicting social work values. Identify relevant concepts and critically assess how they apply to the interactions in the simulation.
4. Using systems concepts presented in the course, draw a diagram depicting what you consider to be critical transactions in the case study simulation. You may use target systems, action systems, and genogram/ecomaps to guide your depiction.
5. Also, discuss which other methods and tools you would use to assess the problem.
6. Discuss the intervention strategies you would use at the different system levels (make sure to use the theoretical framework, i.e., connect the theory/intervention to the problem).
7. Discuss how you would evaluate success.